Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 4
Police raid Kurdish magazine office Police raided Istanbul office of the pro-Kurdish magazine Özgür Halk today, the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reported. DİHA reported that the raid, which was in progress at the time of publication, was related to the magazine’s feature commemorating August 15, the date the banned Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) took…
Chinese police arrest siblings of Germany-based journalist
New York, March 28, 2016 – Chinese police on Sunday arrested two brothers and a sister of journalist Zhang Ping, who lives in Germany, from his family’s hometown, the journalist told CPJ. The arrests came a week after Zhang published an article decrying the disappearance of another Chinese journalist. Zhang told the Committee to Protect…
As editor-informant Li Xin disappears, journalists share their experiences with China’s security services
The case of Li Xin, a journalist who disappeared in Thailand in January after telling the international press in November he had fled China after being forced to work for years as a government informant, has shed light on the pressures some journalists face to provide information to the authorities.
Nigerian journalist threatened for alleging rape at a boys’ school
Abuja, Nigeria, October 30, 2015–A radio journalist told the Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday that he had been threatened by three men after he reported on the alleged rape of students in a boys’ school in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano.
Chinese journalist Gao Yu is missing
On April 15, 1989, Hu Yaobang died. Hu had been general secretary of the Communist Party from 1982 to 1987, and recognized for his leanings toward economic reform in China. His death led to demonstrations around China, some of them in Tiananmen Square. On June 4, 1989, Tiananmen became the focus of the government’s wrath, and…
Togo must investigate, discipline security officers
New York, May 14, 2012- Togolese authorities should ensure that security forces allow journalists to do their jobs and that officers involved in acts of abuse are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists stated in a letter to Togo’s security minister.
In Togo, police assault journalists, confiscate equipment
New York, April 30, 2012–Togolese police attacked and confiscated the equipment of two journalists filming an anti-government march in the capital, Lomé, on Friday. Civil society activists and human rights advocates had gathered for the demonstration on the occasion of Togo’s 52nd Independence Day, local journalists said.
Subjectivity, advocacy in covering human rights
The tension between objective news reporting and advocacy was the subject of the final plenary panel that I moderated last week at the Global Media Forum in Bonn. Sponsored by Germany’s multi-language, government broadcast agency, Deutsche Welle, the three-day conference brought together journalists and experts from every continent to address but not necessarily resolve the…
Ethiopia should allow German broadcasts
New York, April 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on authorities in Ethiopia to ensure that broadcasts of the German state-funded station Deutsche Welle, which had been jammed, be allowed to air freely. Local journalists confirmed a report by the Bonn-based international broadcaster that its programs were inaudible in Ethiopia last week until…